Description
Native Polaris text messaging functionality uses an email-to-text (or SMTP to SMS) process. This was a service all carriers used to provide for sending free text messages by emailing the recipient’s phone number at the carrier email address. For example, emailing 5559999@att.com would send a text message to an AT&T user with the number 555-9999.
Due to changes in federal regulations and anti-spam laws, phone carriers have been slowly dropping support for email-to-text since about 2020. The changes in support seem to be coming in waves based on the carrier and geographic location. For example, some libraries report patrons being unable to receive AT&T messages at all, while libraries in other regions report AT&T working, but Verizon not working. Some library patrons can’t receive any messages from Sprint, while others receive messages from Sprint with a banner text warning the message might be spam.
Here is an example article from Verizon in 2022 about their efforts to reduce spam messages: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-helps-block-11b-spam-texts-265b-robocalls-and-counting
Based on troubleshooting efforts, it appears that some carriers will allow a certain number of email-to-text messages per day or hour. But again, this varies by carrier and geographic location. For example, in the Syracuse NY area T-Mobile users are typically unable to receive notices (due to the volume of notices at one time) but using the “Text It” option on call numbers from PAC tends to work because it is an isolated request.
As email-to-text support declines, the most reliable alternative is true SMS messaging. True SMS messages are sent from numbers registered with all providers (e.g., short codes) and support multiple means of opting-out, such as changing your preferences, replying STOP, reporting SPAM, or honoring opt-out messages received directly from the carrier. One of the challenges with SMS is that there are cost implications (e.g., registration with carriers, data rates for messages sent). The vendor who delivers the SMS typically assumes these costs, but that is why true SMS solutions are not free.
Polaris can support exporting SMS notices to a third party via our native export functionality. We have libraries using a few different vendors for SMS and we offer our Polaris SMS solution, which is a partnership with CirriusImpact.
If your library is interested in getting more information about our SMS solution, please contact your Account Manager.